Language

Jun 20, 2005
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I was rather surprised to hear from an old RAF friend it is no longer acceptable to use the phrases , Hi Guys or Hi Girls. Not PC. πŸ˜₯πŸ˜₯
 
Nov 6, 2005
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political correctness has no official status - just ignore it!

I've recently heard "guys" used for groups of people regardless of their gender - not the way I was brought up but a natural evolution of language I guess.
 
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May 7, 2012
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The phrases will die out, but those arguing against them need to look for something more important to bleat about. People spend far too long looking for problems in our language and personally I am sick of it and will carry on as before in most cases. I can see the point of some but most are simply over the top.
 
Jun 16, 2020
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I know women who object to being called guys. They also don’t like Ms. My wife gets very irate about this.

(gets little sympathy from me I’m afraid)

John
 
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Mel

Mar 17, 2007
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Dunno about β€œguys” but when β€œgirls” is applied to women ( especially by a man who considers himself in a position of authority) then it further emphasis the power imbalance between men and women, and diminishes the position of women.
For example, we used to have a fire officer at the hospital who, during training, repeatedly referred to his audience of professional women as β€œgirls”. I did point out that I had passed puberty some years ago.
It is not about being PC for the sake of it. What is more important is recognising how our use of language often reinforces power differences or stereotypes. β€œGirls” or worse”Girlies” is a pet hate of mine. Women can get away with using it with other women (just about) as there is not the same power difference.
Mel
 
Nov 6, 2005
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Dunno about β€œguys” but when β€œgirls” is applied to women ( especially by a man who considers himself in a position of authority) then it further emphasis the power imbalance between men and women, and diminishes the position of women.
For example, we used to have a fire officer at the hospital who, during training, repeatedly referred to his audience of professional women as β€œgirls”. I did point out that I had passed puberty some years ago.
It is not about being PC for the sake of it. What is more important is recognising how our use of language often reinforces power differences or stereotypes. β€œGirls” or worse”Girlies” is a pet hate of mine. Women can get away with using it with other women (just about) as there is not the same power difference.
Mel
That sounds like being offended for the sake of it - like those who are offended if a man holds a door open for them - perhaps old-fashioned chivalry should be banned as well.
 

Mel

Mar 17, 2007
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That sounds like being offended for the sake of it - like those who are offended if a man holds a door open for them - perhaps old-fashioned chivalry should be banned as well.
Certainly not being offended for the sake of it. Indeed not offended at all. Never offended. If a man or woman holds a door open for me, always grateful for their thoughtfulness and kindness. Would hope that any man or woman that I hold a door for would feel the same.
I don’t do offended. What I was merely pointing out is that there are lots of small ways that inequalities are perpetuated. Women still do not have true equality in Britain today, and certainly not globally. The language we use is a small but important contribution to this. We all have unconscious bias in our approach to others. All I want folk to do is think about theirs.
Mel
 

Parksy

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Nov 12, 2009
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Anything that's taken to extremes eventually becomes ridiculous and political correctness is no exception.
On this forum we try to be careful what is published because we're representing Practical Caravan forum online in many ways.
We try to steer clear of disparaging comments about gender, sexuality or disability and, as one or two forum members will realise 😊, we don't allow 'industrial language' to appear on the message boards because that sort of thing wouldn't appear in the magazine.
Having said all that, some people nowadays are quite prepared to be 'offended' at every opportunity.
Society has become very judgemental, everybody has a voice on social media and some minority interests seem to have a louder voice because they act collectively.
Society has reached the sorry stage whereby they're hesitant to describe a male a man and female as a woman in case it causes 'offence'.
We're not prepared to take PC as far as that here.
I agree with Mel however, we need to be careful of our unconscious bias to embrace all aspects of equality, that's not extreme it's common sense.
 
Nov 16, 2015
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Anything that's taken to extremes eventually becomes ridiculous and political correctness is no exception.
On this forum we try to be careful what is published because we're representing Practical Caravan forum online in many ways.
We try to steer clear of disparaging comments about gender, sexuality or disability and, as one or two forum members will realise 😊, we don't allow 'industrial language' to appear on the message boards because that sort of thing wouldn't appear in the magazine.
Having said all that, some people nowadays are quite prepared to be 'offended' at every opportunity.
Society has become very judgemental, everybody has a voice on social media and some minority interests seem to have a louder voice because they act collectively.
Society has reached the sorry stage whereby they're hesitant to describe a male a man and female as a woman in case it causes 'offence'.
We're not prepared to take PC as far as that here.
I agree with Mel however, we need to be careful of our unconscious bias to embrace all aspects of equality, that's not extreme it's common sense.
Well said that Man/chap/lad/person,, buyer of the next round.🍻
 
Jun 20, 2005
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I’m worried . I refer to my car as a female Mosquito and the caravan as a she / her/ girlπŸ™ƒπŸ˜œ
Clearly I need evening classes on understanding DiversityπŸ‘
 

Sam Vimes

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Sep 7, 2020
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I've never called any piece of equipment by a gender term or personal name - although sometimes my computers get refered to by names that would get me banned if I reported them here.

I have wondered if machines develop personalities so I've always tried to get on the best side of them. The office photocopier/printer/scanner used to hate me though.

My wife does call our caravan Dora the Explorer.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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Many years ago, 53 to be precise, I uttered these words "With my body I honour you, all that I am I give to you, and all that I have I share with you".

But the cars are now "yours or mine" :eek:
 

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